Charlie Simpson: ‘A Busted reunion with me won’t happen in a million years’

Singer speaks ahead of the release of his debut solo album 'Young Pilgrim'

Charlie Simpson has ruled out any possibility that he will ever reform Busted, no matter what he is offered.

The singer, who releases his debut solo album ‘Young Pilgrim’ on Monday (August 15), which you can hear by scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking, has said that in retrospective it is “strange” he ever joined the pop punk trio.

I read that I was going to be part of a Busted reunion, but that won’t happen in a million years. The other two might do something, but I’m not involved. If you talk to any of my friends, they’ll tell you that Fightstar wasn’t an unusual move for me. The strange thing was that I was a member of Busted in the first place.

He continued:

That was something I fell into. One of my teachers found an advert for a band who were looking for a guitarist. I’d just turned 16 and wasn’t happy at school, so I decided to give it a go. It was poppier than the kind of stuff I was into, but I got to play guitar and do gigs. It wasn’t difficult to leave, as I knew I was doing the right thing. People were telling me that the best was yet to come for Busted. They even tried talking to my parents. But my family supported me all the way. They wanted me to be happy.

Simpson added that despite his solo album being much softer and slower than his material with Fightstar, he believes it is still ‘rock music.’

He added:

The support for my solo stuff has been encouraging. The songs are more acoustic, but I still think of them as rock music. While I was writing, I was thinking of the solo records that someone like Eddie Vedder, of Pearl Jam, would make.